Israeli rights group slams West Bank expulsion threat(AFP) April 14, 2010

(Excerpt)

JERUSALEM — An Israeli human rights group on Wednesday urged the international community to press the Jewish state to revoke an order under which thousands of Palestinians could be evicted from the West Bank.

"The Fourth Geneva Convention imposes a complete ban on forced removal of civilians from their homes, a prohibition whose violation is considered a grave violation of the convention," the Hamoked Center for the Defence of the Individual said.

"We call on all state parties to the convention to take immediate action to have the (Israeli military order) revoked," the group said in a statement.

The amendment to a previous order broadens the definition of "infiltrators" who can be expelled from the West Bank to include anyone "who does not hold a permit," without specifying what type of document is needed.

Seven Israeli rights groups said earlier the order was "worded so broadly such as theoretically allowing the military to empty the West Bank of almost all its Palestinian inhabitants."